Monday, January 31, 2011

The water has been turned off in many beautiful fountains in drought-stricken Israel.But for this fountain in Jerusalem's Safra Square, it's especially sad because the Archimedes' screw is, after all, a way to raise water from one level to another.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

. The Supreme Court Bridge leads into--you guessed it!--the Supreme Court building.The courthouse was dedicated in 1992 but the bridge was not added until 2005.. It is only for pedestrians, who walk on the lower part.I got off the bus at the Central Bus Station and walked over to the court in less than 15 minutes..The architects, Ram and Ada Karmi, explain that the location of the Supreme Court at the entrance to the city, near the Central Bus Station, emphasizes its accessibility to all Israelis..In biblical times, the entrance of a city is where the judges sat and judged on Mondays and Thursdays.As Deuteronomy 16:18 says, "You shall appoint magistrates and officials . . . in all your gates . . . and they shall govern the people with due justice.". From the bridge you can see the old Jerusalem neighborhood of Nachlaot..Happy "Sunday Bridges" and bon dimanche to Louis la Vache and all the meme participants..

Friday, January 28, 2011

.Shuk Machaneh Yehuda has been undergoing gentrification.It's not just for apples and potatoes anymore.Some shops in the open-air market are now selling luxury (as in, "ready to take home") food, like fresh ravioli and gnocchi.. You don't even have to enter the shop to see the fancy stuff.It tempts you from outside display cases..Reflected in the glass (for James' Weekend Reflections) is the arched white covering that spans between the stalls on either side of some, but not all, of the market's streets, providing shade in summer or an umbrella in winter.The big fans keep a little air circulating in the heat of summer.. With all due respect to pasta, I was drawn more to the other end of the display..For today's Food for Thoughts meme, Rob and Mandy ask what our idea of the best food is.Here you see mine: dark chocolate in any shape or form!.Have a sweet and peaceful Sabbath. Shabbat shalom!.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

.Tuesday's sunset, just five minutes after the orange sun had slipped behind the mountain..I saw a bottlenose dolphin jumping through the sky in pursuit of the sun, which by then would have been going down into the Mediterranean..Happy SkyWatch Friday..

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

.So many of you liked the Gornensky Convent that I give you more today.Please see yesterday's comments for answers to questions raised.. Enlarge and see that the cathedral's domes were still black in 2007.You can see the perimeter walls that circle the huge Russian complex.All those tall dark cypress trees are on the convent grounds.. April 2009--scaffolding all around and the cathedral domes were plated with gold-colored metal. (Not sure what it is exactly.)Photo snapped from the bus I take to go into Jerusalem, seen on top of the hill.. From inside Gornensky, you see the village of Ein Kerem (now part of Jerusalem) nestled in the valley of the Jerusalem Hills.The top of the ridge on the far horizon is already the West Bank.. When I visited the convent in October they were building some small new building..Italian bloggers especially, enlarge the photo and read the fine print!Those are stacks of Territalia terracotta roof tiles. Their website says they export a lot of them to the Middle East.The Cunial family has been making tiles for 120 years and they now produce 25 million tiles per year.Don't you love that logo of a tortoise with a shingled shell?.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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UPDATE June 11, 2017: For Western Christians today is Trinity Sunday. But for Orthodox today is All Saints. In Israel it is called the Feast of All the Saints of the Holy Land. Here one of my earlier posts about the beautiful old Russian Orthodox Gorny convent and church in Ein Kerem, near Jerusalem. See other posts about it here.
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Bells, buckets, benches, brooms, and braids -- all for ABC Wednesday -- and all were found at the Gorny Convent (aka "Moskovia").
. Russians built the convent in 1871, but the big church was "on hold" for over a century. Just a few years ago it was finally finished, complete with golden domes.Click on the photo to better see the black bells in the belfry and the braided trees in the three pots.

Anyone know how they DO that braiding?!

Black-clad Russian Orthodox nuns often work with brooms around the brown benches near the older, smaller church.
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Hung between the trees is a simandron (or nakos in Arabic).

Why this had to replace church bells during Ottoman times is explained in an earlier post.

And to hear my video of the simandron being hammered on (in an Armenian church), please click here.

Buckets are indispensable when you live in a rural setting.

Gorny (or Gornensky) Convent has a huge area within its walls.

It clings to the side of the mountain near Ein Kerem.

From my village it is just a 45-minute walk, but entering the gate is like stepping into another time and place, much removed.

(For more about Gorny see the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate - Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. They also have a video of the convent in one of our rare snow days.)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

.Psalm 4 today for Robert's "Psalm Challenge" at Daily Athens.You are welcome to join the little but growing group of blogging Psalm illustrators.. Psalm 4:To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David..Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have enlarged me when I was in distress;

have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?How long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.

But know that the Lord has set apart the pious man for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him..

Tremble, and do not sin;talk with your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,and put your trust in the Lord.There are many who say, Who will show us good?Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.You have put more gladness in my heartthan they have whose grain and wine are increased.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

. The architects of our Supreme Court Building incorporated elements of the many civilizations which contributed to the building of Jerusalem over the ages.This arched passageway between the courtyard and the offices could remind us of the Roman Cardo in the Old City. Or perhaps a monastary cloister?.But for sure the shadows were shot for Hey Harriet blog's "Shadow Shot Sunday.".To see more of this wonderful place you can click on my label Supreme Court..

Friday, January 21, 2011

. You can easily see the lamps reflected for James' "Weekend Reflections." .But you might have to enlarge the picture to see what is behind the truth window.It is straw!.We saw in this older post how the neighbors mixed straw, clay, sand, and water to make mud bricks.The sustainability-minded family reinforced and repurposed an old shed with these new handmade mud bricks..

Thursday, January 20, 2011

.Today's Tu BiShvat morning sky, for SkyWatch, was deep blue with nary a cloud.. I happened to be walking past the side entrance of Binyanei HaUma convention center.The ramps were full of young people.Some were singing, some were strumming instruments.. You could feel the high energy, the excitement in the crowd.I asked a boy what was going on. He said "All this is for Kokhav Nolad!".Aha--so they were all anxiously waiting for the doors to open to auditions of A Star is Born, the Israeli version of American Idol and Pop Idol..(I don't have a TV. Have I been missing something here?).

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

.Tonight and tomorrow we celebrate the minor Jewish holiday Tu BiShvat..The Talmud calls it the New Year for the Trees, and this refers to tithes collected for fruit-bearing trees after they reached a certain age.

Some 400 years ago the mystics of Safed (Tsfat) created a Tu BiShvat seder, modeled on the Passover seder, that celebrated the Tree of Life (the Kabbalistic map of the Sephirot)..Last Tu BiShvat I attended such a seder and posted about it..That traditional seder ends with the hope:"May all the sparks scattered by our hands, or by the hands of our ancestors, or by the sin of the first human against the fruit of the tree, be returned and included in the majestic might of the Tree of Life.".The miniature of Adam and Eve was made by Sasha Borisov.Enlarge the photo and see it sparkle!It is displayed here in a glass case in front of the courtyard of the Jerusalem House of Quality, where craftsmen create, display, and sell their creations..Look what Rabbi Geoff Dennis writes today in his eye-opening blog:."In various traditions, we learn that trees are sentient and offer praise to God continuously (Gen. Rabbah 13:2; Perek Shirah). The cosmic trees in the center of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (all things, which stands for the universal order we we know, the unredeemed world) and the Tree of Life (understood by Judaism to be the Torah and the source of immortality and the ideal divine order God wants us to restore to creation) are not the only trees of power. All trees in Eden have the power to heal and give off a scent that comforts and soothes the soul . . . ".As we eat this day from the many fruits and nuts and olives of the lovely and loved trees of our Land, I share this post with Rob and Mandy's "Thursday Food for Thoughts." .Happy Tu BiShvat to all the trees and to their friends!.

Fortunately, I think that Israelis over a certain age are the only ones in the world for whom these words push a button.

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It was in mid January, 20 years ago, that the First Gulf War started for us.

The first night a whole salvo of SCUD missiles were fired into Israel from Iraq.

In the next month and a half, a total of 39 SCUDs exploded.

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The worst was that Saddam Hussein threatened that the warheads would carry nerve gas, anthrax, etc.

The worst was worrying about my kids.

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Usually the air-raid sirens came at night and gave us a few seconds to run to our "sealed room," take cover under a table, put on the awful gas masks, and wait to hear our windows rattle and the 4-storey apartment building shake as the missiles exploded around us. (Our family lived near Tel Aviv then.)

Imagine, sealing the doors with masking tape, as if that would save us. ha!

Sometimes we had to wait a whole hour until the army checked the Scuds that had fallen and then sounded the all-clear siren, meaning no toxic agents in the warheads.

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For the sake of the kids I tried to act brave and cultivate coping skills during that dreadful time.

I really surprised myself yesterday when the TV news showed a few seconds of historical film.

Suddenly hearing the siren wail and seeing Scuds explode and set fire to houses set off an uncharacteristic reaction: I burst out crying!

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Apparently all that anxiety had been sitting just below the surface for these 20 years.

Monday, January 17, 2011

.This week, after 150 years as Jerusalem's main artery, Jaffa Street is now closed to traffic.Between Tsahal Square and Machaneh Yehuda market the street will be a pedestrian mall, open only to people and the new light rail..

Enlarge this photo for a rear view (and a smile).

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Trial runs of the trams are supposed to start this week in this section, so workmen were busy trying to finish the job.

These three were caulking the roof of the Machaneh Yehuda station.

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Across the street, this technician or engineer (judging from his nice clean jeans) was fiddling with the more high tech stuff inside.

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A hundred men were hired to stand on Jaffa Street and explain to confused shoppers where to find their bus.

They also tried to speed up the bus traffic by helping the old folks with their many bags full of fruit and vegetables onto the buses, even through the rear door.

Some handed out pamphlets explaining the new light rail and how great it will be.

This help (from a private firm) will cost 100,000 shekels per day for the 100 "traffic assistants" and for the materials to explain the changes..

The trams were supposed to be in service starting in April, but now they are saying more like August.

Some 2,000 buses go through downtown Jerusalem along parallel Nevi'im, Agrippas, and Jaffa Streets every day. Now, with Jaffa St. closed down, the congestion is even worse.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

.NEWS FLASH!
I just saw on the TV news how Greenpeace activists climbed 50 meters up the strings of our Calatrava Bridge of Strings today!
Wish I had known sooner, would have gone in to Jerusalem to see.
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2. Lord, how many are my enemies! There are many who rise up against me.3. Many are there who say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.4. But, O Lord, you are a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head.5. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out from his holy mountain. Selah.6. I laid down and slept; I awoke; for the Lord sustained me.7. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves around against me..8. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you have struck all my enemies on the cheek bone; you have broken the teeth of the wicked.9. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing is upon your people. Selah.

.Because I am running out of new bridges from landlocked Jerusalem to show you for Louis' Sunday Bridges, let's make a quick jump over to the Swiss Alps instead.. Could this be called a bridge? If not, then what would you call it? Anyone?.I found it in a summer meadow, high up (about 1,800 meters) on the slope of an alp.In spring, when the snow melts, I imagine this is a swampy area or with run-off flowing under the timbers.The cows, herdsmen, and hikers must appreciate it then..

Saturday, January 15, 2011

.Rajah died this week at Heifer Ranch in central Arkansas.Shalom, old camel..

(Photo from Dave Lowe's album. ;-) Dave is the one on the left.).

Some of us ranch hands used to call this camel Gillette Foamy.

Male Dromedaries have a soft palate which they inflate to produce a pink sack.

This doula, as it is called in Arabic, hangs out of the side of their mouth -- some say -- to attract females during the mating season.

Well, Rajah was making the blub-blub-blub sound with his slobbering doula in every season.

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It was always a race to see if I could drive the Livestock pickup truck to his feed box on the fence and dump the feed before he raced over and spewed his foam on my hat. Feh!.

(Photo by Rena Olsen)

.Then one day in the late 1990s someone, a certain G.J., had the bad idea to pasture a donkey with Raja and Gobi (the female camel).

I came to the paddock and discovered this just ten minutes before I needed to catch the donkey (put on a halter and lead rope) and bring her to my workcamper group for a "cut and carry" forage project.

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I had no choice but to enter the big pasture and grab the donkey.

Oh no! For a few terrifying minutes that huge anti-social camel was grunting fearful noises while he danced a circle around me bobbing his head up and down!

I released the donkey and backed off, feigning courage to my opponent.

That gate seemed so far away.

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Maybe that is why mine is the only minority opinion in the 41 (!) comments that Dave received on his Facebook announcement of Rajah's death. Everyone else says they will miss that camel.

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Well, in death may Rajah rest in peace. He certainly never rested much in life.

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P.S. I worked full-time at Heifer Ranch from 1996 to 2002. I lived there in community and worked and learned as a volunteer. You can too!

The Ranch is a learning center of Heifer International, an organization that gives livestock and training to folks in need around the globe.

Jerusalem's Old City by night is full of shadows.Here the striations (grooves) in the 3rd century Roman pavement make nice shadows..In a previous post you can see more of these paving stones and read how they came to be incorporated in today's Via Dolorosa..For Tracy's meme, Shadow Shot Sunday.Tracy lives in Brisbane. Please pay her a visit or contribute a shadow to brighten her day.She suggests contributing to the Queensland flood relief appeal..God bless Australia in this difficult time!

"How to look at the scuplture Genesis by Belu-Simion Fainaru"--------------------------------------------------------------"Genesis is a structure reminiscent of a house, perhaps of a tomb of a Tzaddik, or even an ossuary. It is too small to be a house however, and the feature that most signifies the idea of a home, a door by which to enter, is missing. .There are windows permanently illuminated from within, but they do not look like the windows we are familiar with. In fact, their unusual shapes arouse the question: what are they meant to be?If we look carefully, we see these are Hebrew letters, from aleph to vav, each representing one day in the week of creation.. . .

We realize the letters are written backward.

The only way to see them correctly is to look at their reflection on the floor.

In order to encompass all the days of creation one has to encircle the sculpture completely.

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Just as it is impossible to enter the sculpture to see the letter-windows properly, it is also impossible to fully fathom the depth of creation.

Our understanding will always be a mere reflection of the act itself.".